Next to your mortgage payment, you can expect to that your utility bills will be one of the largest regular expenses that you incur as a homeowner. You are probably like many other homeowners and interested in trying to save money on your monthly bills. Whether your Plymouth home is powered completely by electricity or it uses a combination of electricity and gas, there are ways that you can easily reduce your utility bills. 

Utilize a Ceiling Fan

These days, there are a number of different decorative ceiling fan models that run the gamut from the extravagant to the simplistic. Many people use their ceiling fan to make a room more dramatic and attention-getting. There is, however, a more practical reason for choosing a ceiling fan. They can help you save money on your utility bills. 

Know Your Ceiling Fan 

All ceiling fans are not created equal. Unless your ceiling fan is fairly new, you should consider having it replaced with a more recent model. As the technology become more refined, the manufacturers of ceiling fans are continuously integrating new features into their models. Not only do these advances make the ceiling fans more efficient, they are also very convenient as well. For example, many of the models available today come with a remote as standard equipment. This allows you to adjust your ceiling fan without ever leaving the comfortable of your chair. 

Have Ceiling Fans Installed

If your home does not have a ceiling fan -- or if some rooms are lacking one -- you should consider having one or more installed. You might wonder if the expense of having a ceiling fan installed -- or updating an aging model -- is worth the money. You will recover the costs of both the installation as well as the ceiling fans themselves in lowered utility bills as well as an increase in your comfort level. 

Using Ceiling Fans to Your Advantage

During the summer months, you want your ceiling fan to push the air down. For this reason, you need to make sure that the blades are rotating counter clockwise. In the cooler months, toggle the switch so that the fan blades reverse their direction and move clockwise. During the summer months, keep the ceiling fan on high while the winter time calls for using a lower speed. 

Let’s face it—halogen and incandescent headlight bulbs are a thing of the past. fanless, driverless LED headlight bulbs were used in this installation.

If your vehicle allows for horizontal adjustments, mark the distance between your headlight centers with two vertical lines of tape. These lines are important for projector headlights and/or lining up beam cutoff points. Repeat these tape lines for your other headlight.

6. Remove your headlight assembly if necessary, remove the current bulbs, and install your new LED bulbs. Check your owner’s manual for specific instructions on how to replace your headlight bulbs.

7. Depending on your vehicle, you may have to adjust your headlight beam before or after the assembly has been reinstalled. Your owner’s manual will explain how to adjust the beams. Align each headlight so that the top edge of the beam is at the same height as your horizontal line(s). If your headlights can be adjusted horizontally or produce two light cutoff points, use the vertical tape lines to align them properly.

3. Shake the vehicle to ensure that your suspension system is settled. For more precise adjustments, inflate all tires to their designated psi capacity and have someone sit in the driver’s seat. Also, make sure that your vehicle’s gas tank is at least half full.

4. Measure from the ground to the center of your headlight assembly where the bulb is located. This step must be done for all vehicles. If your vehicle allows for horizontal headlight adjustments in addition to vertical adjustments, it’s important that you also measure the distance between the centers of both headlight bulbs. The vehicle featured in this video allows for vertical headlight adjustments only; therefore, center lines aren’t necessary but are shown for demonstration purposes.

5. Turn on your low-beam headlights. Using painter’s tape, mark your headlight measurements on a flat wall. Measure from the ground up, and apply a horizontal line of tape to the wall; this line represents the top of your headlight beam. You can either apply one long, continuous line or small sections where the brightest areas of the headlight beams are shown.

If your vehicle allows for horizontal adjustments, mark the distance between your headlight centers with two vertical lines of tape. These lines are important for projector headlights and/or lining up beam cutoff points.

A lot of time we are asked what is the equivalent LED product to convert from Metal Halide, High Pressure Sodium or Mercury Vapor. And a lot of time, we have a product in mind that works based on past experience. But how did we come up with that product, and how did we make the original decision on what was the proper replacement?

There’s a lot of science that goes into light, color, quality, and each light had it’s own characteristics. For example, it takes less LED to replace High Pressure Sodium than it takes to replace Metal Halide. And we are talking a lot more than just lumens. We are talking about color temperature, quality of light and something called photopic / scotopic lumens.

In the world of lighting, we measure foot candles with a light meter, this is called a photopic measurement. The light meter picks up everything, including spectrum’s that are invisible to us. Now, we humans see things to, and this is called scotopic lumens. Our rods and cones read and interpret light. And it does so differently than what a light meter does. So it is not uncommon when we demo a LED Light against a HPS light or Metal Halide, we first ask “Which is brighter” before we show the light meter reading. It leaves a few people scratching their heads. Well, that’s the science of of it all, and fortunately there is some handy tables called SP ratios that allow us to take the lumens of a particular light (photopic lumens) and multiply it by the S/P ratio to get the scotopic lumens equivalent.

For example, the S/P ratio for High Pressure Sodium is 0.40. The S/P ratio for LED at 5000K is 1.8. So if you take 40,000 lumens of HPS and multiply it 0.4, the effective scotopic lumens is 16,000. To get the same amount of lumens from LED, take the 16,000 and divide it by the S/P ratio and you get 8888 lumens. So the 8888 lumens of LED is the photopic measurement, the 16,000 LED lumens is the scotopic lumens measurement. So in an nutshell, you need 8,888 lumens of LED to replace 40,000 lumens of HPS from a scotopic point of view.

Here is a handy chart of common lights and ratios for you to use.

With energy costs on the rise, deciding whether or not to install solar panels is something that many people have considered. In the right areas, solar panels can provide clean, renewable and eco-friendly energy not only to your home, but also to your entire electrical grid. One of the greatest barriers to their installation, however, is the cost of solar panels. Although they can drastically lower your energy bills, solar panels have a relatively high up front cost. Fortunately for many, there are several different alternatives to purchasing solar panels outright. If this is something that you are interested in, there is sure to be a solution that will work for you. A great resource for solar panel information is solar-panel-info.

Solar Panel Info – How Much do Solar Panels Cost?

Many homeowners are put off by the prospect of sinking a sizeable investment into the purchase and installation of solar panels. While solar energy has been used for many years now, the equipment is still fairly expensive, and installation requires a highly specialized installer. Solar panels can vary in cost depending on the number of panels that you are interested in, and the amount of power that you would like to generate. In addition to purchasing them outright, there are also many other options for buying and installing them. Many solar installers will offer several different financing options, including solar leasing. Whenever you take advantage of a solar leasing program, you typically pay little to no upfront cost. You will sign a contract with the solar installation company to pay a monthly fee to use their equipment. In most cases, this monthly fee, combined with your new lower energy costs are lower than your prior energy bills.

Can I Install Solar Panels on My Home?

There are many different factors that should be considered when making the decision to install solar panels or not. If you live in an area with lots of sun, then you have the opportunity to generate much more electricity than in areas with less sunlight. Furthermore, you can see a greater benefit from solar power if you already have very high energy bills. You will want to make sure that your home is positioned in a way to where any installed solar panels will receive an adequate amount of sunlight. To discuss the viability of solar panels on your home, find solar panel installers in your area to provide you with an assessment. You can do so by going to solar panel info. Their experts can give you a much more accurate assessment on how much energy you can expect to generate, and whether or not the investment makes sense for you.

What Benefits do Solar Panels Offer?

The greatest benefit of solar panel installation is lower electrical bills. If your home is particularly suitable to generating solar energy, this can be a very significant change. In fact, most utility companies will even allow you to sell excess energy back to them whenever you generate more than you use. Many people are unsure of what additional changes to their electrical system are necessary. The only changes that will be made to your electrical system are the solar panels and the equipment that they use to connect to your existing electrical system. None of the components inside your home must be changed. This means that you can continue using all of your electrical devices and appliances just like before. It will just cost you less.

If you are considering solar installation, it is recommended that you research diligently so that you can understand the technology as much as possible. You can typically find many resources for local help, and general information online. One of the best resources for this is Solar Panel Info, and you can visit our website at solar-panel-info.

If you have been on the fence because of price or logistics, take some time to talk with the professionals at solar-panel-info. As mentioned above, you may find that they have a solution that will work perfectly for you. Regardless of the type of installation and financing that you choose, most Americans can save a significant amount on their electric bills while helping the environment when they install solar panels.

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